about our college  

Physical Medicine in Australia was formally established as the Australian College of Physical Medicine in 1989 as a "not for profit" postgraduate medical education organisation.  It developed in response to a need recognised by a group of experienced general practitioners.  These doctors found that there was a large proportion of primary care patients suffering from soft tissue musculoskeletal dysfunction and associated pain.  They found that general practice lacked the expertise to assess and treat these diverse conditions.  They found that soft tissue musculoskeletal dysfunction was only a very small part of the area of knowledge covered by orthopaedic surgical colleagues and rheumatologists, the latter dealing mainly with connective tissue disease of an autoimmune type.  Rehabilitation Physicians, although in the past were involved in Physical Medicine, had narrowed their field of expertise and in recognition no longer included the term Physical Medicine in the description of their faculty.

General practitioners seeking assessment and treatment skills attended the RACGP Introductory Course in 1985 under Professor John Murtagh of Monash University and Dr Clive Kenna of Monash Medical Centre. This course was available for GPs of at least three years post hospital experience.  Because of the interest shown by 2000 GPs who attended the course, a longer course with written and clinical examinations was later held at Monash Medical Centre, and a certificate awarded.  After 1989, the certificate course became a conjoint course of the RACGP and ACPM.  About 200 doctors attended this course and gained the certificate.  A formal programme of further training and examination was developed. After two further years of study and attending specific courses, admission to Fellowship via a written examination and clinical viva was approved.

The previous training programme consisted of a Postgraduate Diploma in Physical Medicine or a Master of Medicine Degree in Physical Medicine from the University of Sydney in the Faculty of Medicine.  These courses were taught in the Department of Anatomy and Histology as well as the Department of Pain Management and Anaesthesia Royal North Shore Hospital and the Department of Aged Care and Rehabilitation at Royal North Shore Hospital at The Northern Clinical School of the University of Sydney.  The Physical Medicine component on management of postural abnormalities in the final year was taught by Fellows of the Australian College of Physical Medicine.

Because of their broad clinical training and experience in general practice, a number of the doctors who completed the Certificate Course realised the breadth and depth of specialised knowledge and skills required for the assessment of and treatment of acute and chronic musculoskeletal dysfunction and associated pain.  We founded our small College to further educate ourselves and to continue the training of General Practitioners in such a relevant primary care area.

At the time of its inception, to be a Fellow of the College of Physical Medicine, doctors needed to hold the Advanced Certificate in Manual Medicine of the RACGP, to have studied at the University of Paris at the Department of Physical Medicine, attended an intensive two week course involving lectures, tutorials and outpatient clinics at Hotel Dieu, have attended a number of courses in soft tissue musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction in the fields of bio mechanics, myofascial pain syndrome, and an intense course including rheumatology, spinal neurosurgery topics and musculoskeletal radiology. These were mainly taught by visiting lecturers from medical schools in Europe and the USA.

Two years after completing the Diploma or Master of Medicine Degree, and attending  ACPM teaching sessions, the trainees were eligible to sit for the ACPM Fellowship.  This involved a formal examination and viva.

The Diploma and Masters course offered by Sydney University is no longer available owing to university funding issues.  Our new training programme follows similar lines and is now available at Maquarie University starting in 2010.

Enquiries can be made at www.medicine.mq.edu.au or contacting Dr Sharon Cleland at sharon.cleland@mq.edu.au

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